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XXXV. The Hardening of Nations
“The election hath obtained it, and the rest were hardened.”— Rom.xi. 7.
St. Paul’sword, at the head of this article, is strikingly impressive, and its content exceed-
ingly rich and instructive. It clearly announces the fact that the hardening is not exceptional
or occasional, but universal, affecting all, who, being in contact with the divine Love, are
not saved by it.
The last limitation is necessary, for of the heathen it can not be said that they are
hardened. Only they can be hardened who live under the Covenant of Grace. It is true that
the heathen develop a reprobate mind. Their heart is darkened. Walking in their own ways
they are impelled irresistibly, for the process of sin can not be stopped; but this is not the
proper conception of the hardening as the Scripture presents it.
Heathen nations and individuals may come in direct contact with the Lord and His
Anointed, as Pharaoh and Sihon through their relations with Israel; and as the Turks and
the peoples of India and China who now are in touch with Christian nations and mission-
aries. Of course, we do not mean to say that mere casual contact with a Christian nation or
missionary makes a Mohammedan or heathen nation responsible. This is impossible. When
in Epirus the Turks meet hordes who call themselves Christians, but are utterly devoid of
the Spirit of Christ and in savagery rather surpass the bashi-bazouks, then no ray from the
cross falls upon the crescent by this meeting. The fact that a missionary settles in an obscure
corner of a heathen nation, opens a little school, and talks about the Scripture with a few
individuals, in a manner which betrays his ignorance of human nature, does not make that
nation responsible. They know nothing about it; it leaves the national life wholly untouched.
599
The Christian nations, their governments, their churches, and their missionaries, may
well ask themselves whether by such playing at missions they do not increase their own re-
sponsibilities rather than those of the heathen nations. How serious these responsibilities,
especially regarding the heathen and Mohammedan nations! Owing to the divine pleasure
the Christian nations possess a moral and material superiority. England alone is perfectly
able to control China, Japan, the whole of India and Turkey besides. There is not the
slightest prospect that the heathen nations will, for a long time to come, be able to cope
successfully with the nations of Christendom. In their own native jungles they may be able
to maintain themselves, but as soon as they come in the open field they are vanquished. We
may harass the Chinese, but it never enters our minds that they will effect a landing upon
our shores.
Whether this will so continue is another question. As the Christian nations return more
and more to Judaism, and thence to heathenism, it is very possible that they will lose also
their material superiority. There are already signs showing that China may some time seri-
XXXV. The Hardening of Nations
XXXV. The Hardening of Nations
